Car-coupling.



No. 643,580. Patented Feb. l3, I900. J. WILLISUN.

CAR COUPLING.

(Application filed Sept. 16, 1899.

{No Mode'l.) ,3 Shaats,$heet l.

WITNESSES j INVENTOR No. 643,580. Patentedfeb. l3, I900.

J. WILUSON:

CAR COUPLING. I (Application filed Sept. 16, 1899.!

(No Model.) 3 Shuts-Sheet 2.

wnnsssss i INVENTOR Patented Feb. l3, I900. J. WILLISON. CAR COUPLING A uazmn md Sept. 16, 1899.\

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

INVENTOR WITNESSES Miran STATES P TENT FFICE.

JOHN WILLISON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL MALLEABLE CASTINGS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,580, dated February 13, 1900.

Application filed September 16,1899. Serial No. 730,744. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN WILLIsoN, of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Couplers for Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 shows in sectional plan View a pairof car-couplers coupled together and embodying my-invenlion. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line II II of Fig. 1. Fig. Sis a vertical section on the line III III of Fig. 1, showing in full lines the tail or depending member of the locking-piece in the position which it occupies when the coupler is locked and. showing it in dotted lines as it is when the lock is set in unlocked position. Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the lock. Fig. 5 shows two of my improved couplers, one in plan View and the other in sectional plan, one being locked and the other being unlocked and having its knuckle open in readiness to conple. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the drawbar looking upwardly and showing the fulcrum 9. Fig. 7 is a vertical cross-section on the line VII VII of Fig. 5, showing in full lines the parts when locked and the dotted lines showing the locking device set in unlocked position. Figs. 8 and 9 are cross-sectional views similar to Fig. 7, Fig. 8 showing the locking and opening device tipped into the position which it occupies when the knuckle is fully opened and Fig. 9 showing the same when it has been tripped by the knuckle. Fig. 10 is a horizontal section of the coupler-head, wherein I illustrate in diagram the successive positions occupied by the end of the tail f. Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the knuckle detached.

My invention is an improvement especially applicable to the car-coupler known as the Tower coupler,described in Letters Patent No. 541,446, granted to C. A. Tower on June 18, 1895.

In the drawings, 2 represents the couplerhead, which in general may be of usual type. It has two jaws 3 and 4 and is provided with an internal cavity or recess which extends laterally into the jaw 4 and is adapted to pen mit the coupling-knuckle 5 to swing upon its pivot-pin 6. This knuckle is formed with an outer arm I) and an inner and preferably longer arm or tail 0, which project substantially at right angles to each other, and the rear side of the tail is formed with a hook d. In order to hold the knuckle in locked position, (the position shown in Figs. 2 and 7 and at B in Fig. 5,) I employ an angled locking and opening piece set within the couplerhead. The upper and transversely extending member or arm 6 of this angled piece reaches over the tail of the knuckle. Its dependent block or head '7 is adapted to fit in front of and to lock the knuckle when in closed position, and its dependent arm f, which extends downwardly at the rear of the knuckle and is substantially upright when the knuckle is in locked position, passes through a guide-hole g in the floor of the coupler. When the knuckle is locked, the head 7 of the angled piece fits between the front side of the knuckle-tail and a shoulder h on the coupler-head; but when the brakeman raises the angled'piece by a link or lifting rod 8 it is raised above the knuckle and out of its path of motion. When the knuckle is looked, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7 and at B in Fig. 5, the member 6 is above the tail of the knuckle, the head 7 fits in front of it and bears against the shoulder 71., and the arm f fits within the hole g and is within the hook at of the tail. The angled piece being then braced by the fitting of its arm within the hole and by the bearing of its head against its shoulder efiectually prevents the knuckle from swinging open.

To release the knuckle and to permit it to be swung into the open position, (shown at A in Fig; 5,) the brakeman raises the link 8, and thus lifts the angled piece until the end of its head 7 clears the tail of the knuckle and passes above the horizontal path ofits motion, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 7, whereupon the knuckle can be swung open either by direct action of the hand or by continuing the lifting of the angled piece until a notch t' on the upper side of its member 6 engages a projecting rib or shoulder 9 on the coupler-head, Fig. 9, whereupon the angled piece will tip radially in a vertical plane in a direction transverse to the length of the draw-bar, Fig. 8. Such radial motion of the angled piece, by bringing its rearwardly-depending arm into action upon the rear side of the tail of the knuckle, will move the knuckle outwardly into open position. \Vhen the angled piece is released, after the knuckle has been swung open, the end of the armf will drop upon and will be supported by the floor of the couplerhead, and it will remain in this position, as shown in Fig. 8, until the knuckle is swung back into locked position by the act of coupling or otherwise. The rear side of the knuckle-tail will then engage the armfand will move the angled piece so as to carry said arm back toward a vertical position untilits lower end comes into register with the hole g, and then the angled piece will drop by gravity, its arm f entering the hole and its head 7 adjustingitself in front of the knuckletail and locking the knuckle, as shown in Figs. 2 and 7 and at the coupler-head B in Fig. 5.

As described in the said patent, I form on the under and forward sides of the head 7 of the angled piece a bevel or inclined surface j and at the upper and rear corner of the head a parallel bevel or incline 7;. These bevels are so formed as to match and to correspond to parallel beveled surfaces m and n, which are situate at the sides of the coupler-head and form a short groove or passage within which the head 7 may travel in its upward and downward motions. The consequence is that when the angled piece is lifted for the purpose of unlocking the knuckle its head does not move in a single vertical plane, but being guided by the beveled surfaces m and n moves also forward, turning with a radial motion on the axis of the dependent arm f. This radial motion continues until the initial lifting of the angled piece has been completed and until its member c has been brought into contact with the shoulder 9. In like manner when the angled piece is dropped in the act of locking the knuckle the engagement of the surfacej of the head 7 with the surface m on the coupler-head causes the member 6 to turn backwardly with a radial motion on the axis of the vertical arm f, and thus to move its head toward the throat of the coupler. An important function of these guiding-surfaces m and n, as described in the said patent, is to oppose resistance to the free upward motion or jumping of the angled piece and to prevent its accidental displacement.

My present device is in some of its features a modification of the invention described and claimed in an application filed by me on September 16, 1899, Serial No. 730,745, wherein this device is claimed generically. As described in my said application, Ido not make the elongated fulcrum orshoulder 9, on whichthe angled piece tips, on a line which is horizontal and parallel with the longitudinal axis of the draw-bar, as shown in the drawings of the Tower patent, No. 5l1,4t6; but I incline the same at an oblique angle to the longitudinal axis of the draw-bar and preferably downwardly from the rear toward the front of the coupler, and make it a single rib or shoulder and not double, as in my said application. I also make the notch ion the top of the angled piece at an oblique angle to the member 6, so as to correspond with the direction of the shoulder 9, and I incline it downwardly from the rear to the front side of the member 6 at a somewhat-greater angle to the horizontal than that of the shoulder, making it also wider and deeper at the forward end than at the rear end. For purely structural reasons, in order to permit the lifting-chain to lie horizontally on the member-e while the angled piece is being inserted into the coupler-head, so as it may not interfere with such insertion, the wall of the notcht' next to the head 7 is made of less height at the rear than at the forward side of the member 0. The side of the head 7 of the locking and opening piece is preferably beveled, as shown at 7, the better to prevent frictional contact of the head with the front side of the interior space of the coupler during {the opening action, and to avoid frictional contact thereof with the rear side I provide a stop 9 at the end of the shoulder 0,

against which the angled piece bears when it is first lifted into contact with the shoulder.

The consequence of the construction above described is that after the angled piece has risen above the inclined surfaces m and n and engages the shoulder 9 it is unrestrained and is free to swing on the inclined axis afforded by the shoulder, so that the memberfof the angled piece by which the knuckle is moved outwardly can be led by friction of its contact with the knuckle-tail to travel in a somewhat-forward direction without rubbing on the knuckle-tail. This is effected also without substantial rubbing of the angled piece against the interior surface of the couplerhead, which would create excessive friction and would entirely defeat the object of my invention. It is effected also without substantial lateral motion of the head 7 during the act of moving the knuckle, which lateral motion, if permitted, would make the device impracticable by taking up excessive space in a longitudinal direction in the coupler-head.

I will now describe the device which I have invented for setting automatically the looking device in unlocked position, as when the coupler is coupled to an adjoining car, so that when the cars are drawn apart the knuckles may swing open without need of the trainman again performing the operation of unlocking. For this purpose I form aslightlyraised seat g just back of the hole g-i. e.,in a line therefrom which is in the direction of the length of the coupler-and I attach the lifting-chain 8 to the member 6, so that when the angled piece is raised from the hole its arm fwill tip slightly in a backward direction and will rest on the seat g, on which it will be supported in unlocked position, with its head 7 resting on the inclined waym in the couplerhead and elevated sufficiently to permit the opening of the knuckle. At the end of the hook on the tail of the knuckle is a beak or upward projection 11, which extends to the extremity of the hook and is beveled at the inner end, and when the knuckle is next swung open, as by the separation of the cars, the beveled end of the beak engages the head f the locking-piece and movesitsufficiently to unseat the end of the armffrom the seat g, which is back of the hole 9, and to cause it to rest upon the floor of the coupler at the side of the hole and in the normal path of motion of the arm f to and from thehole, Fig. 9. For this purpose the inner end of the beak next to the body of the tail cof the knuckle is formed with an inclined or beveled surface, so that it shall gradually raise the head of the angled piece in the operation of unseating the arm ffromthe seat g. When the knuckle is next closed, its tail engages the arm f of the angled piece and moves it back from the position shown in Fig. 9 until the end of the arm is over the hole g, whereupon it drops into the hole, and permitting the head 7 to come in front of the knuckles tail it securely looks the coupler.. In the diagram Fig. 10 the several positions of the arm fof the angled piece areindicated by the circles, f representing the arm when in the hole g, f showing it seated in locksetting position on the seat g in a longitudinal line with the hole,] showing it after it has been moved, by opening of the coupler,

so as to' rest upon the coupler-floor at the side of the hole, as in Fig. 9, and f showing the arm when the angled piece had been tipped by raising its lifting-chain 8 and the arm f has been moved outwardly thereby and has opened the knuckle. A peculiarity of this lock-setting device above described is the supporting of the part fat a point back of the hole in the direction of length of the draw-bar, from which point, when tipped, it is moved into a supporting position at the side of the hole and in the normal path of its motion.

The beak l1 performs another useful func: tion in addition to that above described, for when constructed as shown it affords an additional protection against the dropping of the head 7 behind the knuckle-tail when the parts become worn, for in case the knuckle is open and the angled piece not fully tipped, as in Fig. 9, the head of the angled piece is supported by the beak above and out of contact from the inclines m n, and it is impossible for it to drop from that position onto the inclines, and thus to fall behind the knuckle even when the knuckle becomes displaced by wear of its pin. I also prefer to make the beak fit the rear of the angled piece when the knuckle is locked, Figs. 3 and 4t, shaping the under side of the head of the angled piece accordingly, and I make the depending arm f to fit in the hook at the end of the knuckletail and provide the arm f with a bearing-surface which matches the side of the hook. I thus afford a better pulling surface or abutment against which the tail of the knuckle can bear during forward draft, thus bracing it and causing it to be held more securely in position even in the event of breaking or loss of the pivot-pin.

Another feature of my invention is shown in Fig. 9. On top of the tail of the knuckle, preferably on the beak 11, I form a small raised rib or friction-stop 11, behind which the locking-head 7 of the locking-piece may drop either when the locking-piece has been tripped from its lock-settin g position or when it has been thrown fully open. The frictional resistance afforded to this rib by the head 7 of the locking device prevents the knuckle, when open, from swinging inwardly accidentally by its own movement during the swaying of the cars and requires some positive force to be applied to close it. p f

Another feature of myinvention consists in providing at the base of the incline m, Fig.

2, an abrupt shoulder 71, against which the tail of the lock bears when it is in its lowest and locked position. By stopping and holdingthe locking-piece from moving 'inthe direction of this stop when the parts are-locked,

thus holding the lock to its true bearing on the locking-face of the knuckle, the stop prevents all tendency to accidental uncoupling when the pivot pin of the knuckle wears loose. It alsomakes it impossible for the angled locking-piece to ride up the incline m accidentally and unlock the coupler when the knuckle is under abnormal forward draft, as might occur when the parts tend to surge under the impact of the cars when in motion.

I claim- 1. A car-coupler having a movable opening device with a single elongated fulcrum in the coupler-head on which it turns, said fulcrum beinginclined obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the coupler-head; substantially as described.

2. A car-coupler having a movable opening device with a single elongated fulcrum in the coupler-head on which it turns, said fulcrum being inclined obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the coupler-head, and a stop at the end of the fulcrum; substantially as described.

3. A car-coupler having a movable opening device with a single elongated fulcrum on the coupler-head on which it turns, said fulcrum being inclined obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the coupler-headand said opening device having an inclined notch which is wider and deeper at the front than at the rear end; substantially as described.

t. A car-coupler having a movable opening device with an elongated fulcrum in the coupler-head on which it turns, said fulcrum being inclined obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the coupler-head and said opening device having a notch also inclined downwardly, but

at a greater angle than the shoulder; substantially as described.

5. In a car-coupler, a locking-piece having a member fitting in a hole, a lifting device adapted to exert thereon, after it is raised from the hole, a rearward-tipping action in the direction of the length of the coupler, whereby when the said member is raised from the hole it is tipped so as to rest on and be supportedin unlocked position at a point back of the hole; substantially as described.

6. A car-coupler having an angled locking andopcning piece having a head adapted to fit over the tail of the knuckle and to lock the same, and a depending arm adapted to engage the back of the knuckle and to move it open, means arranged to lift said piece and to tip it slightly backward in the direction of length of the draw-bar, whereby when the depending arm is raised out of its hole and dropped, it will be supported on a seat in the draw-bar adjacent to the hole, and its head extending downwardly sufliciently when so raised to project into the path of a portion of the knuckle, whereby when the knuckle is next moved outwardly, it will unseat the depending arm aud bring it into the path leading from its said hole; substantially as described.

7. A car-coupler having an angled locking and opening piece, having a depending'arm adapted to engage the knuckle and to move it open, means arranged to lift said angled piece and to tip it slightly in a direction lengthwise of the coupler and transverse to the direction of knuckle-opening motion of the angled piece, whereby when the depending arm is raised out of its hole and dropped it will be supported on a seat in the draw-bar adjacent to the hole, with its head extending downwardly sufficiently to project into the path of a portion of the knuckle, whereby when the knuckle is next moved outwardly it will unseat thedepending arm and bring it into the path leading from its said hole; substantially as described.

8. A coupler-knuckle having at the end of its tail a hook, and on its surface a beak 11 extending to the rear extremity of the hook and having a beveled surface at the inner end, substantially as described.

9. A coupler-knuckle having at the end of its tail an upwardly-projecting beak 11 which extends to the rear extremity of the tail, and on the beak a raised friction-stop 11, substantially as described.

10. A car-coupler having a knuckle, and an angled locking and opening piece adapted to fit over the knuckles tail and to hold the same, said knuckle having. at the end of its tail an upwardly-projecting beak; substantially as described.

11. A car-coupler having a knuckle with a hook at the end of the knuckles tail, an upwardly-projecting portion or beak thereon, and an angled piece having members which extend over and back of the knuckles tail respectively, the depending arm of said angled piece fitting in said hook and having a bearing-surface adapted to engage the same; substantially as described.

12. A car-coupler having a knuckle, a lock which is movable vertically to effect the looking and unlocking of the knuckle, an inclined guiding-surface along which the lock moves, and which is adapted to prevent jumping of the lock, and an abrupt bearing on the coupler-head below the inclined guiding-surface at the lowest position of the lock against which it bears when under abnormal forward draft; substantially as described.

13. A car-coupler having a locking device and a friction-stop projecting upwardly from the surface of the knuckle behind which the locking-piece drops when the knuckle is open to oppose some resistance to accidental closing of the knuckle; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN WILLISON.

Witnesses:

D. W. CALL, OLIVER K. BROOKS. 

